


Tattoos

by TipandMalarkey



Category: The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Accidental Marriage, F/M, Heartbreak, Relationship Problems
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-09-09 05:04:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8877136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TipandMalarkey/pseuds/TipandMalarkey
Summary: Clary wakes up on the right side of the wrong bed. Who is the person sleeping beside her?





	1. Waking up

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is our first time posting on AO3, but we've posted on fanfiction.net and we wanted to try this site out. At first we're gonna just post our other fanfictions (with slight alterations) and see how you guys like them! ~ Tip

Clary woke up and stretched her hands above her head. She could hear the deep even breaths of her boyfriend beside her. Without opening her eyes, Clary slid her arm over his bare stomach and pulled herself toward him. He murmured in protest at being woken up, then wrapped an arm around her shoulders. With her head on his chest, Clary looked up into Jace's deep blue eyes-   
Wait.  
Jace doesn't have blue eyes.   
Clary jerked back, and instead of seeing familiar blond hair and golden eyes, she saw the raven hair and blue eyes of... Alec. 

Alec was just as shocked as Clary. No wonder Magnus had felt strange to hold that morning; because it wasn't him. "I-I-I don't.." Alec stuttered, not comprehending what was going on. Clary looked at him to reply, but stopped short with shock as she saw what was on Alec's chest.   
"Alec, let me see your arms." She said, as sternly and calmly as she could.   
"What? Why?" Alec asked incredulously.   
"Just let me!" Clary snapped, becoming more anxious by the second.   
"Okay, Okay!" Alec said, wary at Clary's panicked voice. He sat up and kneeled in front of her, holding his arms out, palms up. While he did so, Clary checked her own arms, and found the rune she was terrified of seeing; it was on the inside of her left arm, just above the crease of her elbow.   
"No, no, no." She muttered as she found an identical rune on Alec's arm, in the same spot as hers. 

"Um...Clary?" Alec said tentatively.  
"What?" She asked, her voice shaking slightly.  
"Look at your chest." he replies, blushing a little. Clary looked down, not at all surprised to see the same rune yet again, mirroring the one on Alec.   
"By the Angel." Clary whispered. For these were not the runes to use in a fight, these were the runes of wedded union.


	2. Gay or not gay? That is the question

Jace still had a bit of a hangover, it had been pretty wild last night. He began making his shadowworld famous lemon and asparagus juice hangover cure while contemplating why they had even gone out last night at all. While lost in thought, Izzy sauntered in, ever graceful even after having drank half the bar only hours before.  
"Have you seen Alec today? How is he?" She asked before swiping the juice out of Jace's hand and taking a big gulp. Jace looked puzzled,  
"What? No, why, what's wrong with him?"  
Izzy looked at Jace with a grin, "Wow, you were really out of it last night weren't you? Do you even remember why we went out?"  
"To boggey?" Jace replied innocently  
"No you idiot!" Izzy exclaimed "Alec and Magnus broke up! We were trying to cheer him up"  
"Well did we suceed?"  
"Go find him and ask him yourself!" Izzy all but shoved him out the door.

* * *

 

"Um, right okay, stay calm" Alec muttered to himself, running his hand through his dishevelled hair. Clary was still sat on the bed, rubbing the rune to see if it was, by chance, just pen. It was not.  
"How did this happen?" she whispered to herself quietly.   
Alec's head jerked up, "I know how we can find out! I just have to call Mag-" At the mention of his name Alec remembered what had happened between himself and the warlock and his face fell. At that moment there was a knock on the door and Jace's golden head popped in.  
"Morning just came to see-" His eyes fixed on Alec, then glanced over at Clary, who was in just her underwear and a tank top. It was then that Alec realised he was in nothing but his boxers. His jeans were in a crumpled heap on the floor so he hurriedly hoisted them up to his waist and began the futile search for his jumper. Clary sat silent, waiting to see Jace's reaction, knowing 'it isn't what it looks like' isn't a very believable line.  
"Don't get dressed on my account" Jace said coldly. "I have to say brother, you had me fooled, I mean, pretending to be gay?" Jace sneered, "All part of your elaborate plan to get my girl? Well I guess it worked." He finished icily.  
Clary had waited long enough and lept up to move toward Jace, forgetting what she had stopped herself from saying moments before. "No, Jace it's not what you think!"    
"That's what they all say sweetheart" Jace replied sarcastically.

Before turning away, Jace looked Clary up and down, a look of disgust on his face at her state of undress. Eyes glancing at the runes on her body as he turned, he did a double take. Jace stared openly at her chest, mouth agape. Due to lack of comfort, Clary shifted under his gaze. "Um...What are you looking at?" She asked uneasily. Alec flinched as he knew exactly what his parabatai was seeing.  
"The runes, Clary" he whispered gently, "The runes." Clary gasped in realisation. A look of deep hurt crossed Jace's face, "Why" he whispered. His voice was raising in anger, getting louder and louder as he got more worked up. "How could you? By the angel, I _love_ you Clary! You _know_ I love you! I love you so much and you just throw it away like it's nothing?" Tears were brimming in his golden eyes, as he turned to Alec. "And you! I'm supposed to trust you! You're my _parabatai_ Alec, how could you do this to me?" Jace was yelling now, he couldn't hold back his tears any longer and they came flowing down his cheeks.  
Clary also had tears dripping down her face as she yelled back, "Just listen will you!? You haven't even given us a chance to explain! We haven't-"  
"No" Jace interrupted, "I don't want to hear it, I'm done with you," he cut a glare at Alec "with both of you" Turning his back on the pair, he began to leave the room, but paused in the doorway. Turning his head to the side glancing behind him he said "By the way, thanks for inviting me to the wedding" He slammed the door shut, plunging the boy with the blue eyes and the girl with the red hair into silence.


	3. Izzy

Jace stormed down the hallway, the air around him crackling from the anger and sorrow swirling inside him. He knew that if he didn't get to the training room soon he was going to break something.  
Maybe he would break one of the vases that dotted the hallways, perched on stands, but he didn't like the look that the angel Raziel was giving him from the tapestries that hung from the walls.  
Maybe he'd tear down one of them instead.  
  
He swung the training doors open and went straight to a punching bag. Beating it with all his might he poured out all of his frustration. All of the anger that he had been holding on to was escaping at an alarming rate. With every punch and every kick he remembered what had just happened and banished each memory from his mind, even though he knew he would never truly forget.  
_punch_  
Clary's half naked body wrapped in Alec's sheets.  
_punch_    
The fake shock in his _parabatais_ eyes.  
_kick_  
The runes that now marked both of their bodies.  
_punch_  
Alec betraying him, his brother.  
_kick_  
Clary, the girl that he loved so much, cheating on him.

Tears were making their way down his face, making his vision blurry. But it didn't stop him. He heard a noise in the background and promptly ignored it. A hand layed itself gently on his back, and the training ingrained in Jace caused him to whip around and attack. He very nearly punched Izzy in the throat, but she seemed to be expecting it and ducked easily out of the way.  
"Jace," Izzy whispered, "what's wrong, what's happened?" she asked gently, pushing his hair out of her eyes so she could search the molten gold. Jace's legs gave out from underneath him and he collapsed to the floor. Sobs escaped him as he let out all the pain and tears that he had kept pent up inside. He cried on his knees, bent over with his arms clutched around his stomach, trying to hold himself together as his body shook. Izzy stroked her adopted brothers hair and murmured soothing words into his ear as she held him and waited. She would wait all day if she had to.

* * *

 

Clary stared silently at where Jace had just left. Tears were still spilling out of her eyes and and she was trying not to scream. Alec was also staring at the door, frozen in place, simply not knowing what to do. He turned his head toward to Clary and saw that she was crying.  
Now he _really_ didn't know what to do. He wanted to go over and comfort her, but would she accept his reassuring words? Or would she push him away and tell him to never speak to him again?  
She looked so fragile. Arms wrapped around herself, eyes red with tears and her hair a fiery mess. Alec walked over to his wardrobe and pulled out a brown sweater. He moved back towards Clary and held out the jumper, almost as if it was a peace offering. Clary looked up, wiped her nose and took the jumper with shaking hands.  
"It used to be black," Alec muttered solemnly, "but then it faded." To this, Clary gave a brittle laugh, devoid of any emotion. She tugged it on and pulled it down as far as it would go. It came to mid-thigh on her, and the sleeves were a couple inches too long, but she appreciated it nonetheless. She buried her face in her hands and breathed in deeply, trying to compose herself. She raised her head and sighed, wiping away her tears. Alec placed his hand hesitantly on Clary's arm, before saying,  
"It will be alright Clary" Alec swore, "I promise that we will sort this out"  
But Clary just shook her mane of curls, "I don't think that's a promise you can make Alec"

* * *

 

"Wait, what?" Izzy said, too shocked to form any other words. "No. No that can't be right!" she exclaimed. Izzy didn't know whether she didn't believe it, or simply didn't want to. "Izzy, I've told you twice already, I don't really want to relive it again." Jace snapped. His eyes were still red from crying and he rubbed them before taking a sip of his hot chocolate. Izzy had coaxed Jace into coming downstairs and telling her what he was so upset about. When she learnt that Alec and Clary were in the same room, both barely dressed, she gasped. But when she learnt about the runes? She gaped like a fish, searching for words that wouldn't come.  
Finally Izzy reached over and grabbed the hand of the golden boy sitting before her. "Clary and Alec would never do that on purpose Jace" Izzy reassured him confidently. Jace withdrew his hand from hers and gave her a withered look. He didn't want to hear anymore excuses.  
"So what, then? They meant to draw a different rune and just happened to draw the one of wedded union on the exact same place on each others chests and arms?" Jace snorted "Cause that sounds so likely now doesn't it?" Jace's voice was dripping with sarcasm and Izzy was glaring at him.  
"I'm serious Jace, neither of them would do that to you" Izzy replied. She didn't understand why Jace didn't believe her. "Clary loves you," Jace barked out a laugh but Izzy ignored it, "and Alec is your _parabatai_ he would never do anything to hurt you intentionally." Jace nodded along, not really caring what she was saying. He stood up abruptly, stalked to the sink and dumped the remaining contents of his mug unceremoniously down it.  
"Well then, darling sister," Jace drawled "why don't you go and sort out my love life for me, while I go out?" Izzy started to protest but Jace cut her off. "I'm only going to Taki's okay?" Jace said as he walked, overly calm, out the room.


	4. Receptui

Izzy kicked open the door to Alec's room with a booted foot "So, tell me, tell me everything" she demanded, sweeping her hair over her shoulder. Isabelle didn't seemed to notice she had interrupted Alec and Clary's discussion as she perched on the side of the bed. Stunned into silence Alec and Clary both stared open mouth at Izzy's casualness. "Did I interrupt something?" she realised as she glanced between both of their faces.   
"Look Izzy I don't know how much Jace has told you but this is no time to gossip. We have a real actual problem here" Alec hissed.   
Clary nodded in agreement "We don't remember it all, we remember bits of what happened but not the whole story, not enough to complete the picture" Izzy nodded her head in encouragement as if to go on. "We remember going out, drinking and messing around" Clary continued, her eyes open and honest.   
"Nothing for ages" Alec picked up, "We can't remember physically getting the tattoos, or why we got them. But we can remember oogling at them."   
"Then we were in here, waking up. Which lead to now" Clary finished. Izzy was staring at them with wide disbelieving eyes. "What?" Clary asked not understanding why the sister of her 'husband' was looking at her like that. Izzy just shook her head. "You guys are like an old married couple. Finishing each others sentences like that." Alec's blue eyes widened as a memory flashed through his mind.

* * *

 _Jace had gone to get a round of shots and Izzy had started to sing 'Let it go' from Frozen to Alec. Except instead of singing 'It' she sang 'Him' meaning a certain sparkly ex-boyfriend. She also changed some of the other lyrics as she went along. And her song went like so "Let him go, let him go. You don't need Magnus anymore. Let him go, let him go. Throw his glitter out the door. You should stop calling him. Let out your rage. He was never worth it anyway" Clary and Alec applauded her as their bodies were racked with laughter.  
"My favourite one is 'Love is an open door'" Clary slurred. "Even though that Hans dude is a total bastard" She suddenly broke out into very out-of-tune song.   
"All my life has been a series of door in my face, then suddenly I bump in to you..." Clary had let the last words drip off her lips, thinking that they would continue they're conversation. But Alec had other ideas.  
**"I was thinking the same thing, cause like, I've been searching my whole life to find my own place and maybe it's the party talking or chocolate fondue"**    
"But with you-"   
**"But with you, I found my place"**   
I see your face"    
 **"**_ ** _And it's nothing like I've ever seen before,_** Love is an open door"

_***_

_"Can I say something crazy? Will you marry me?" Proposed Alec as he got down one one knee, holding Clary's hands in his. "Can I say something even crazier? Yes" Clary responded and Alec stood up gathered the petite redhead into his arms and span her around sloppily. They thanked the small audience that had gathered around them with a bow. In a chair next to them, Izzy was howling with laughter, her face flushed and breathing heavily. "You proposed Alec!" Izzy squealed, "And you said yes!" She yelled at Clary. Alec clambered down from the table and held Clary's hands as she scrambled down to prevent her from a certain faceplant. "It was just a song Iz" Alec shook his head. "It doesn't mean anything" But Izzy was having none of it. "No no no. You have to get married, it's the rules!"_

* * *

The memory tumbled away into sudden darkness, leaving Alec still grasping for answers. He was startled by the memory for only a second, but Izzy had noticed the slight change. "What happened Alec? What did you remember?" Izzy inquired softly. Explaining to the two girls was slightly awkward - Alec only just managed to keep down a blush when he mentioned that he 'proposed' to Clary - but he told them nonetheless. "And after that?" Clary questioned eagerly, desperate for more information. But the blue eyed just shrugged. "That's all I remember, Clary." He answered apologetically. Izzy wasn't listening to the married couple's conversation, but instead was racking her brain for the memory of what came after what Alec had just told them.  
Nothing.   
Absolutely nothing.  
_Come on Izzy_   She said silently to herself. _There must be something that could help you remember...or someone!_ Izzy's head snapped up and gazed at Alec and Clary. She knew someone that could help. And it wasn't a sparkly warlock either. "Clary!" Izzy exclaimed. "Izzy!" Clary said, coping the same tone and volume of Izzy's voice.   
"Clary you could make a rune!" Izzy told the smaller girl excitedly. "A remembrance rune. It would be helpful too, not just in cases like these" She continued. Clary stared blankly at the black haired girl before her. "I can't believe I didn't think of that" Clary said, mentally kicking herself. Izzy sauntered over to Alec's desk where he had a pile of paper. She handed it to Clary and pulled out her stele from her boots. Clary relaxed her mind and let her hand move freely across the page. The rune was simple. It was a simple knot, and looked as if to be the head and shoulders of a person. Two lines ran horizontally the through the 'head'. Clary placed Izzy's stele to her arm and copied the rune onto her skin, the slight burning familiar. She then reached out to grab Alec's hand. She flipped it over, palm facing up and drew the rune onto the inside of Alec's wrist. "What's it called?" Alec asked. The two girls looked at him slightly befuddled, so he elaborated. "Like how there's _iratze_ and _letra_ " Clary paused for a moment, thinking what she could call it.  
" _Receptui_ " She said decidedly. Izzy looked amazed, she would never tire of seeing Clary create runes, "Recall," She said softly, looking back up to Clary's face. "In Latin?" Clary nodded and they all waited in tense silence for the rune to take effect.


	5. Magnus

At three in the morning, Magnus was awoken by the loud pounding echoing through his apartment from his door. With a grunt of annoyance, he pulled himself out of bed, shrugged on his favourite black and red kimono, and went to answer it. As he threw open his currently canary yellow door, a very drunk, very unwelcome, Jace Herondale came tumbling in, as if he had just been leaning against the wood.  
Magnus glared at the blond boy as he staggered through the entrance and fell on to one of his white leather sofas. The warlock slammed the door shut and stalked over to his uninvited guest. "Would you mind telling me why you're here maybe?" Magnus asked, irritation crawling into his voice. Jace was sprawled over the couch, and appeared to have mud streaked across his body, as well as a few twigs and leaves in his hair, placed in a way that made it look almost like a crown.   
"Actually, yes. Yes I would mind." Jace slurred and buried his face into the satin pink pillows that decorated the sofas. Magnus grabbed Jace by the collar of his shirt and yanked him up, pulling him to his feet.  Jace was unsuspecting of this, and lost his balance, falling to the floor.   
" _Get out_ " Magnus seethed. There was a time - a couple of days ago actually - when Magnus would have been fine with having the Shadowhunter in his abode, would have welcomed him, even. But that time was gone. Magnus didn't want to see the face of this boy unless the need was dire. He didn't want to see his sister, who he was such good friends with once, and especially not his _parabatai_ , who his heart was broken for at that very moment. Jace lept to his feet, startled at Magnus' aggression. "I was just coming to tell you about your boy-"   
"Ex" Magnus cut in abruptly, "He's my ex and I don't care about what you've come to say." Jace laughed tauntingly at his old friend, "Oh, but you do. You still love him." Magnus was glaring at Jace but the blond boy took no notice, "You still love him, and regret dumping him. You wish you could take him back, but it would hurt your goddamn precious ego-" Jace had yelled the last line at the warlock, who had punctuated it by slapping the gold-eyed boy hard across the face. The slap echoed through the room like a bell. The force of the hit was so great that Jace's head was pushed sidewards. He did not see the shock on Magnus' face to what he had just done; leaving an angry red mark on Jace's face, in the shape of a handprint, his eyes wide with shock, his mouth formed a perfect 'o'.

The warlock quickly recovered, and rearranged his features into a steely gaze. "Get out" Magnus hissed again. He was desperate for the boy to leave. Even though Jace was arrogant, pretentious and occasionally downright rude, he shared one common trait with Alec; he would do anything for the ones he loved. Which is why he was here now, Magnus guessed. But he couldn't deal with anything that had to do with Alec right now. Alec, his old love. _Who am I kidding?_ Magnus thought. _I still love him and everyone knows it._ Jace cast a scathing look at Magnus before spinning on his heel and storming towards the exit. Jace flung open the door but paused before leaving, he turned to face the raging warlock to speak his parting sentence. "I came to tell you that Alec and Clary are together" Jace smirked sadly at the warlocks expression and continued, "They're married, they've been together this whole time." Jace stalked out the door and slammed it shut behind him, leaving Magnus in stunned silence. Magnus stared at the yellow door, from where Jace had just left from. Alec and Clary were married? But why would they even pretend to love himself and Jace? Why would Alec pretend to be gay? Not of it made sense, and Magnus had many questions to which he intended to get answers.

* * *

 

_Images, snippets of conversations, splashes of colour and more whirled through Alec and Clary's mind. It was too much. Clary screamed in pain and clutched her head with her hands and fell to the floor, curling into a foetal position as if it would protect her from some of the fire that burned in her head. She could hear another person screaming too, knowing it wasn't her only by the fact it was a deeper tone. Vaguely she heard Izzy shouting, presumably their names, or for help. Blackness was creeping up on Clary. She could feel it climb over her feet and slither up her legs. It felt like tar, thick and sticky, suffocating her as it dragged itself over her stomach and chest. A tickling feeling touched the base of what felt like her brain and she knew that was the end, whether or not she would die she didn't know, but she did know that it was the end of her consciousness._

* * *

 

_Light. An abundance of light was filling Alec's vision. Voices. Voices were beckoning him away from it. Away from the light that looked so pure and inviting. Alec grasped the light with his mind, begging it to never leave. He didn't want to be in the darkness again. Not again. But it didn't listen to the boy's pleads and seeped away. As soon as the last sliver of light had disappeared Alec was plunged into Darkness once again._

Alec's eyes snapped open and another light flooded his vision, but this one was real. Crowded around him were the familiar faces of his sister and his mother. "Clary! Clary he's awake!" Isabelle yelled over her shoulder, not taking her eyes off her injured brother. Alec squeezed his eyes shut and groaned at the loud noise. It had sent a ringing through his mind, the high pitch sound bouncing around inside his skull. He felt a hand on the side of his face and peeled his eyes open. His crystalline eyes met green ones and a flush of red hair. Clary was gazing down at him, searching his eyes for any pain or damage. "I'm so sorry Alec, I'm so sorry" Clary whispered, clearly upset by what she had done to them. "I didn't think it would do that. I didn't know that it would be so painful. I thought we would just- just remember. I thought it would just come back, but- but not like that. I'm so sorry Alec. I am so, so sorry that I caused you that pain." Clary said this all at once, not pausing for breath. Her eyes glistened, her face was masked with distress and worry.   
Alec stared up at her dumbfounded, "Sorry, who are you?" Alec questioned. Maryse and Izzy gasped, Clary's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. He couldn't remember her? Was the rune more powerful on him than her? Clary hadn't lost any memories so why had he? Alec smiled somewhat painfully. "Too soon for memory loss jokes?" He asked sheepishly. Maryse threw her hands into the air and stormed out of the infirmary. Izzy let out a sigh of relief and a halfhearted laugh, shooting her brother a half-glare before going over to the cabinet to get some more healing remedies. Clary's eyebrows had furrowed momentarily, a second behind Izzy and Maryse . Once again her eyes widened and and mouth parted slightly at realisation. "You _jerk_!" Clary said breathlessly, shoving herself away from him. Alec clutched his chest and rolled onto his side in fake hurt. "Oh you hurt me so!" He teased. Clary grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back to he was facing her. He was smirking slightly as he looked up at her. He saw the question in her eyes just before she spoke it. "Do you- do you remember?" She asked the boy lying before her quietly. The smile on his face gradually disappeared and he nodded slowly. Izzy came up behind Clary and placed a cool towel tinged with purple on Alec's forehead, and another - this time orange - on the fading rune. Izzy sat down on a chair placed next to the bed and looked at the pair expectantly.   
"Well come on then" She said at last, "I know Clary remembers, but she wanted to wait for you to wake up. And now that you are, you can get on with the story." But before either of them could speak a word, the infirmary door banged open, and in came-

Magnus? He was wearing black skinny jeans that had rhinestones trailing up from his ankle to his hip in a pattern of swirls along the seams, a florescent blue top with a picture of a panda eating pancakes donned his top half. He completed the look with black ankle boots and a black trench coat that was hemmed with gold. Clary and the Lightwood's stared open mouth at their guest. Magnus hadn't been seen for half a week, nor had anyone heard from him. It didn't sound like a long time, but they had become so accustomed to always having him around. Everyone though that he would stay as far away from Shadowhunters as he possibly could for as long as he possibly could. Magnus stormed over to them and spoke his greeting words; "What's going on here?"   
"I don't see why you should care, or how it's ant of your business." Izzy replied sharply. She liked Magnus, but he had broken her brothers heart badly, which wasn't something she could forgive in a matter of days. "You have nothing to do with us anymore."  
"I know you're not happy with me Isabelle, but when a drunken Jace comes to my apartment in the middle of the night and tells me about how he found his girlfriend - the girl I watched grow up - and my ex-boyfriend together in bed, - scarcely dressed I might add - you can't blame me for being at least a _little_ curious as to what's going on." Magnus said, a clipped tone to his voice.   
Isabelle snorted, "Well if you hadn't broken up with Alec in the first place, none of this would have happened!" She snapped. "Izzy" Alec warned his sister. The one word told Izzy to watch herself and be quiet. The connection that the Lightwood siblings had made Clary insanely jealous. She had never had that with anyone before, considering she didn't know her brother for the first 16 years of her life.   
There was also the fact that he was a raging lunatic.   
Izzy huffed but listened to her older brother and turned her back to Magnus. "Wait" Clary said. "Jace went to your apartment? He's been missing since yesterday morning. He told Izzy that he was going to Taki's, but he never came back." She explained to Magnus.   
"Alec told us not to worry, he knew that Jace wasn't too far away." Izzy continued, "Because of the _parabatai_ connection and all." Magnus nodded, as if he knew what they were talking about. "You can feel it can't you? Like there's a cord connecting you?" Alec stared at Magnus, vague surprise on his face. How did he know what it felt like?   
"How did you know that?" Alec asked.  
Magnus' eyes clouded over; he was no longer seeing the present, no longer seeing the two Lightwood's and the Fairchild before him. Instead, he saw a different blue eyed boy and his silver companion. They were part of his past now, they were gone. Or at least, for now. "That's another story, for another time." Magnus shook his head and turned his attention back to the Shadowhunters. "Right now, I want to know what happened."   
"It was...well, it's a bit- a bit odd" Clary told the warlock tentatively, trying to find the right word. "And a little long" Alec interjected.   
"I have all the time in the world" Magnus said simply, sitting down on the bed next to Alec's.

* * *

 

Jace opened his eyes to bright sunlight and emerald leaves. He was in a park. Why on earth was he in a park? _Oh yeah,_  he remembered _that._ Jace sat up and groaned at the pain coming from his side. He had been sleeping on a massive root.  
Great.  
He surveyed his surroundings, and saw that he was only a couple of feet away from the path, hidden behind a bush that was about four foot tall. The grass was dry beneath his body, so his clothes hadn't become soaked through during the night. Seeing that it was morning, Jace thought that he should probably get back to the Institute. He hauled himself to his feet and brushed off the dirt, leaves and twigs that clung onto him. As he slipped onto the path, he could see the gazebo that was next to the pond which held the entrance to the Seelie Court in it.   
Which made him think of Kaelie.   
_For Raziel's sake_. Jace swore at himself silently, _Yet another thing I have to deal with_. They hadn't done anything too serious, but something still happened.  
Jace stopped a person walking nearby, "Do you know what the time is?" He asked. The person that he had stopped was a women who looked a couple of years older than himself and had brown hair cut pixie-style. Jace never understood why Mundane's called them pixie cuts. He had only ever seen a few Pixie's with the hairstyle and they did it for pure irony. Before answering, the lady swept her hand over her shoulder, as if she was pushing her hair back, so Jace guessed that this was a new look. "I don't think I should talk to you. You look a bit...uh...dodgy." She tugged slightly on the sleeves of her off-the-shoulder sweater - not unlike the one that Clary owned - and Jace groaned inwardly. She just sounded so pretentious. "Look, I've had a rough two days. I'm asking you for the time." Jace said in a calm voice, but he also sounded like he wanted to slap her. "I'm not, asking you for your number or your address." The girl sighed. A sound so fake Jace wouldn't have been surprised if she practised in the mirror everyday "It's eight in the morning." Jace nodded at her answer, "Hey, do you wanna-" The girl began to ask Jace, but it was too late. He had already left. 

* * *

 

"Wait wait wait" Magnus aid, waving his arms in front of himself to silence the Shadowhunters before him. "So your telling me that this all started with you guys singing Frozen?"   
"Yes, now can we please continue?" It was the third time that Magnus had interrupted already and Clary had hardly even begun the story. "So anyway," the redhead continued, "we sang, then at the end of the song, Hans asks Anna to marry him and she says yes, so that's what we did."  
"Izzy then told us that we had to get married, that it was the rules." Alec continued, momentarily taking over the story from his 'wife'. Magnus raised his eyebrows, "So you're saying that it's all Izzy's fault?"  
"What? No!" Alec said incredulously. "Would you let us just get on with it? Please?" Alec begged. Magnus nodded and waved him on. "Jace came back soon after and took Clary away to...to dance." Clary blushed at the statement; everyone new full well that the only dancing she and Jace had been doing was with their mouths. "Izzy kept pestering me, saying that I promised Clary that I would marry her and that I have to keep my promises. I told her that it was just a song - Clary didn't want to marry me, nor I her. But she wouldn't listen." Izzy was staring, her mouth agape. She didn't remember much from last night either, but she hadn't though that she played such a big part in their marriage.

Clary was bobbing her head up and down to Alec's words and picked up where he left off. "Me and Jace came back and she somehow persuaded us to draw the runes on each other, saying that they would fade because we didn't mean it. Jace was hysterical the whole time, he didn't mind at all." Clary's eyes glassed over as she thought of her boyfriend - or ex-boyfriend now she guessed. "When we got back here they locked us in Alec's room together...except I guess they hadn't really locked it, just...held it shut." Magnus was looking at them with wide eyes, "Your boyfriend shut you in a room with another guy?" He questioned, clearly perplexed. What boy could be so stupid as to do that? Especially if they were drunk off their faces and newly married - even if it was only jokingly.  
Izzy looked at him as if he had started speaking gibberish. "You do realise that this is _Alec_ we're talking about here?" Alec scrunched his eyebrows together, and his mouth puckered slightly. "Gee, Iz, thanks" He muttered sarcastically. Isabelle shot her brother a look. "You know what I mean. One, you're _gay_. Two, your Jace's _parabatai_. Both of those reasons make it very unlikely for you to hit on his girl." Izzy pointed out.   
"He thinks that I was pretending to be gay, as a way of getting close to Clary without him being suspicious." Alec explained, a note of sadness in his voice.   
"So the runes are real? You two are actually married?" Magnus inquired, changing the subject. Clary sighed before answering, "Yes, they are real, apart from the forms and other official stuff, Alec and I are technically married." Magnus searched his brain, was there any way he could possibly help these people that still mean so much to him? Only the Silent Brothers could remove the runes of wedded union. And luckily, Magnus knew one that would be happy to help. Or, at least, Magnus hoped that he would be.   
"So what do we do?" Izzy asked, as if she knew that Magnus just needed a little prompting for him to tell his idea. Clary had opened her mouth to speak, but the warlock cut her off. "We're going to pay Brother Zachariah a little visit."


	6. Chapter 6

The group of four walked through the graveyard, to the place they all knew well. The place that every Shadowhunter knew well.  
They were heading to the City of Bones. Here is where their silent brothers lie and live.   
The four companions went through a door and down well travelled stone steps, disappearing from the mundane world. Magnus lead the way, swaggering down the steps as if he owned the place. Until they reached the bottom of the staircase that is, to which he came to an abrupt stop, causing the others to fall onto him, finding no grip on the slippery stones. Unfortunately for Clary, she was behind Magnus, this means that both the Lightwood siblings fell onto her, squashing her into the glittery warlocks back. Luckily they all have quick reactions, so Clary was only a very squashed biscuit for a very short amount of time.  
"Ah yes," Magnus began, "forgot to mention that downworlders are not permitted to enter the Silent City…" Izzy looked at Magnus, slightly confused, before speaking. "We do actually know that… I'm not quite sure why we didn't question you coming down here."  
"Well, you're on your own from here, but remember, ask for Brother Zachariah." Magnus said.   
"Brother Zachariah, got it." Clary nodded as she glided past Magnus into the city. Izzy followed her lithely. Alec was considerably less elegant. Considering he is a fair bit bigger than both the girls in front of him, his body touched Magnus' as he passed. As they touched Alec's heartbeat rose and he could only hope that Magnus' did too. Little did he know that the warlocks heart was beating even faster than his own.

* * *

Jace arrived back at the institute, standing outside the elegant doors before taking a deep breath and heading inside. He just hoped to Raziel that no one saw him as he was on his way to his room. He sighed out of relief when the elevator doors opened to reveal it free of any inhabitants. He traveled from church to institute in a fluid movement of machinery, and stepped out into the hallway.   
And heard voices.  
At first just mumbles, but slowly getting clearer. He could hear Izzy and…  _who was that?_ It couldn't be Simon, he was still away at geek camp or wherever it was that he'd gone. Not Alec, Jace would recognise his _parabatai's_  voice anywhere. Jace strained to remember who the voice belonged to and realised with a start who it was.   
It was Magnus. Why was Magnus here? Why would he want to come see his ex-boyfriend that had been betraying him the whole time?  
He could hear them fully now that they were in earshot. He guessed that they were still a fair bit away; sound rang easily through these hollow halls. He heard Izzy speak first, "Okay, so, we know of Brother Zachariah, as we do of many of the Silent Brothers, but how do you know him? As in well enough to go to him with this situation?"  
"I knew him before he was a Silent Brother, back when he was a Shadowhunter. We were good friends, as were I and his parabatai." Magnus responded, sounding wistful. Jace, in his slightly dazed state of post-drunkeness, noted to himself that he should probably get moving if he didn't want to be seen. Luckily, they were coming from the direction opposite to where he needed to go so he simply walked off, no sneaking required.  
  
That is until he heard them turn the corner.   
However ungraceful Jace may be with as much as he drank last night, he was still more graceful than most people where when fully sober. He lithely threw himself into a doorway and plastered himself against the door, making himself as flat as possible. He could hear them still talking, but he was too busy thinking about what he had heard Izzy and Magnus say just now.  
They were going to the Silent City. Why? Was Clary and Alec with them? _Yes, yes they are_ , Jace thought as he heard the other two sets of footsteps. Where they going to get the runes removed? _Don't be stupid Jace_ , the blond boy thought. _Don't get your hopes up for things that aren't going to happen. She loves him not you._ Jace didn't want to think it but he couldn't stop himself, all he could think was _she doesn't love you, she probably never did she doesn't want you anymore she wants your best friend instead._   
_Why weren't you good enough Jace why couldn't you do it right? What did you do what did you do wrong?_ His head was so swarmed with these thoughts that he didn't even realise that the group had gone until a minute after the elevator had shot down.   
He removed himself from the door, and continued shakily down the corridor, weakened by the sudden wave of emotion that had hit him. _You lost her you lost her you lost her was running on repeat through his mind._  Jace continues to stagger to his room, thinking that he just has to get to his bed then he can go to sleep and the pain will leave him. He draged himself into his room and floped down onto the bed, willing himself to sleep, which with his combined physical and emotional exhaustion, was unsurprisingly easy.

* * *

"Uhhh, do you guys actually know your way around here?" Clary asked after about five minutes of walking. To her everywhere looked the same. You'd think that because she's a super artist that she'd be able to see the tiny details.   
Nope.  
It all looked alike.  
"Not particularly, but I'm sure we'll find our way to the right place eventually" Izzy said nonchalantly, waving away the little redheads concern. In return Clary muttered, "Maybe I should create a GPS rune."  
"What by the angels name is a GPS?" Alec asked, thoroughly bewildered, a matching expression gracing his face. Clary sometimes forgot that Shadowhunters didn't know about various modern day objects despite living in New York. Especially when it comes to technology.  
Clary and Simon were teaching them slowly but there were still many things that they didn't know about. "It's like a map, but it's in a tiny computer…kind of." Clary began, slightly hesitant. It wasn't the best description but that was basically it, right? "You type in where you want to go, and it speaks out directions, you use it in cars and such."  
"How would that work in a rune?" Alec asked, still clearly confused. "Uh," Clary couldn't quite answer that. "I don't actually know, I'd find out after I had done it I guess? I think after I had drawn it I would know how to use it."  
"Fair enough." Alec shrugged. During their brief conversation Izzy had strolled ahead. She now paused and half turned to them, keeping her eyes ahead of her but directing her voice back. "Sorry to interrupt your super interesting-that-isn't-actually-interesting-at-all conversation but I think I found what we're looking for." Clary and Alec closed the space between them and her, coming to stand beside her and look ahead. In front of them, stood like statues, were a group of Silent Brothers, about fifteen of them, all eyes missing or sewn shut, their mouths in the same state.  
Except for one.   
This Brothers face was not scared and self-mutilated, the eyes and lips simply shut and not sewn. _Greetings Nephilim_. Began this peculiar Brother. _I understand that you have come to seek our  aid?_   
"Damn," Izzy whispered. "Who knew that a Silent Brother could be hot?"


End file.
